Hi all ... I'm in the market for a new PC but I haven't followed what's good
much this year. Any thoughts on whether the following is a good spec would
be appreciated.

I would be satisfied with a desktop/tower system for most of my needs (and
if I only have a laptop I will use a fullsize keyboard and display when at
home = office). But I know that I need a laptop sometimes for business. For
the price of a high-spec Dell or Compaq I could get a low-spec laptop AND a
more powerful desktop system ... and this seems quite attractive. So with
that in mind, I'm looking for a laptop that can do basic MS Office, email
and browsing.

I've got this quote: AOpen 1846A
Intel Celeron 1.8GHz
ATI display chipset 32MB DDR
20GB hard drive
128MB DDR266 mem
CD-ROM
14" SXGA+ LCD
XP Home
Price ZAR5999 (I'm not specifically asking about the value for money though)

I would certainly go for 40GB if it was to be my only system, but I'm sure
20 is fine given the above. Likewise I would probably want XP Pro, but are
there any major limitations with Home assuming I want to network it with
another system running Pro?

I wonder if 256M memory would be safer?
Should I go for an integrated DVD writer or CDRW?

Thanks - Joe

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